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Eleven That Went up to Heaven.

Fraser, Anthea (author).

Richard Vine, the wealthy owner of a conference center, throws a party for 20 Richard Vines--men who share his name--as a publicity stunt. On the way home from the party, 10 guests die in a bus crash, and shortly afterward, a woman is murdered while attending a writing seminar at the conference center. Detective Chief Inspector David “Spider” Webb and his Shillingham CID colleagues must follow a quickly cooling trail to determine a motive and find the killer. This straightforward police procedural has a good pace, is fluently written, and offers a competently developed plot. Fraser is a genre veteran who turns out a steady stream of solid if rather ordinary British crime novels. This one is typical of her oeuvre: mainstream genre fare that sticks close to formula but connects the dots with skill if no particular flair. Recommended where the author’s many previous works are popular. (Reviewed August 1999) John Rowen